Knitting machine for producing zigzag stripes



Dec. 26, 1922. Lm-9266 H. T, BALLARD. KN|TT|NG MAcHlNE Fon PRoDuclNs ZmzAs STRlPEs.

FILED JAN. 15. 1920y Patented met.

KN'IC'TXL Gr REACH.

Application filed Jennery l5, 3.2521?.

To YZ @0.7mm it may r' I Be it known that Stripes, oif which the following is speci iicrition.

M v invention relates to means miming changes in the knitting oit' e.. tubular fabric on zi. rib knitting machine, and it Consists in the testures er l Compinetion i parts hereinafter described :ind pertienhnif.' pointed out in the Claims.

` In the accompanying drawings.

Figure l is e plan vieiv ot e ri) knit machine head einhodying my invei'ition. thi-.- vieiv being in nature ot u diagram.

Fig. 2 is e view oi: part oi? the Cylinder end dial of rib knitting machine, with mv improvements in place.

Fig'. 3 is s side view or the parts in liig'. Q.

Figi il is :L conventional View ot :L portion oi the liehrie n'oduoeil by my tion.

In Carrying` out my invention l employ zi. meohzinisn'i which may he mounted :is :in :stteuhment upon u ril) knittingn'izwhine of ordinary torni, and without making ouv change in the structure ot seid mechiue, thoughv the invention is not limited in its scope to :in :itteehn'ient torni ot metlifinism hut may he embodied in e. mmhine in which the improvement incorporated in the structure thereof es originally huilt.

In the drawing' l indicates the dial 2 the cylinder of e. rib knittingmachine.

The improvement he embodied in different forms hut l have shown one as en example for illustrative purposes and not as limitation upon the scope of my invention. which is defined by the appt-sided claims.

in the gimrtieuhir 'form shown l provide :it one ot the feeds u meehsiiism 'tor shi {"ti the Wing rum in end out., so is to oeeu :it times its hinting position und it other times its tracking position. This mechanism eomprises :1 post El .iteehed Ato 'wing e extending up through u. slot lin the d .l Cep. which post is Connected hy e link 5 with e hell Cre-.nk lever G pivoted onto hreeket 7, which supports the yarn guide (i. the eye of which is shoivn zit inisshown and lever operated hv a. vertioslb7 movable oui l() o fded through e block or bracket hv a lever l2 pivoted From j)ported the 'treme o'i the megzhine et 13.

*his hloolr il stud or seen' lll depends havwhich holds e toothed tunes is intended to mesh 'the stems oit he oylii'ider needles and et ses to he out ot mesh therewith.

in; wheel, on upper surface hss 'e cani l? or coms adapted to operate the pin l() end 'thus move the wing` @am in or out. t will heunderstood that this Wing oem is the ieerj; oem. for operating the needles to 'i i the stitches. XWhen the pin l() is moved upwardly hv the @am 17 the Wing com Will he nofed inwardly toiverdsthe axial center ot 'to machine to tuoking position. `When the ce` 'i not acting on pin 10 the Wing com will he moved outwardly to knitting` position. i

Below the Wheel 16 there is mother Wheel i8 toothed to engage :1nd he driven from the revolving port ot the machine and in the particular torni shown this Wheel meshes with Lthe stems oi'' the needles ot' the cylinder.

lt, like the toothed wheelv lo above described intended to engage with and loe rotated hy the needle stems und :it other to he. 'tree therefrom. l't is carried Ver end criteri. .j i Cam slot 23 in a ring' 2- :irrengjed to he turned slightly shout the heed o? the nnuhiue by any suitable pattern mechanism.

rChis ring ond pattern mechanism are not new and need not he illustrated in detail.

rlhe lever carrying the upper toothed Wheel is Connected pivotelly to the lever 2() carrying the lower toothed Wheel by e. pin

the errzirfement being;` such that When the levez Q() operated to throuY its toothed wheel lo o mesh with the stems of the vlinder needle the other Wheel 'lo will he thrown out oi mesh vith the seid needle tems and will not be rotated thereby.

Hovverer, whichever toothed wheel is in vith the needle stems the oem 17 will because the tivo Wheels ere oonhv s. pin und slot et 26.

il tous he seen that when the upper in mesh the Cum l? -will he driven wheel which has sev i6 teeth against say 324 needles in the cylinder. The wheel 18 has a greaterI number of teeth than the wheel 16 and each number is such that it will not divide evenly into the number oi needles, so that at the beginning of each revolution or the needle cylinder the same tooth of the wheel, 16 or 18, whichever happens to be in mesh will not be in engagement with the same needle stem.

1n the case of the larger diameter wheel 18 there will be, say, one needle less than the number required tomake the number ot needles a multiple oi' the number of teeth in the wheel, and hence tor each revolution or" the needle cylinder the wheel 18 will lag in respect to the revolutions of the said cylinder and the changes in the knitting resulting from the use of the wheel 18 as a driver for the cam 12' will not occur on the same wale but will lag and occur on a following wale and thus the changes will occur in a spiral in one direction around the tube being knit. n

When this wheel 18 is thrown out et' mesh with the cylinder needles and the other wheel 16 is thrown in, the changes in the knitting will take place spirally around the fabric but in the opposite direction i'rom the changes occurring when wheel 18 was in mesh.

As above stated, we will say for example, that the wheel 16 has a6 teeth to engage the needles. This divides into the 324: needles with two needles over as a remainder and it follows that the wheel le will be advanced. a distance oi two needles for each revolution ot the needle cylinder and hence the changes consequent upon the operation oit the iteed will be out of time with any lgiven wale and may be said to advance in respect thereto.

No spiral will be complete in either direction, however, owing to the change ot control shifting from one toothed wheel to the other. The structure oit the it'abric will be understood from Fig. a, in which a represents plain rib and Z) tuck or cardigan. 'lhe cardigan has a portion a running at an inclination or spirally in one direction in respect to the length of the fabric indicated by the line c-c and also a portion a2 joining the portion a but running spirally or at an inclination in the other direction and the plain rib has the saine form so that in the particular structure illustrated there is a zig zag stripe ot tuck or cardigan .made up of the part LL-1,2 and intermediate zig zag stripes ot plain rib. li red and blue yarns are knitted in, the blue at the special feed and red at the ordinary eedey there will appear a Zig Zag stripe with blue predominat ing in the tuck and a stripe of plain rib with alternate course of red and blue will appear. i f

It will be observed that the tuck portion a is spirally in line with other tuck portions a, a, while the tuck portion a2 is spirally in line with the tuck portions a3, at, the spiral line a', a, am, being interrupted by plain rib portions, which is true also of the spiral line 652,03, @4.

1t may be said that the cam 17 is common to both of the toothed wheels because either one or the other is employed to rotate this cam according to which of the wheels is in mesh with the stems of the needles. y l

The ordinary feed at which plain knitting is done or at which the two loops are cast oli' for tucking is shown at a?, there being here the ordinary yarn guide and a wing cam which always remains Ain position to perform knitting. liecause of the difference in the numbers oiiteeth in the two wheels 16 and 18 there will be more ot the substantially rhomboid ltorms in one circle made by the smaller wheel than there will be in the circle or Zone made by the larger wheel and while the forms made b one wheel will merge in large degree wit'"v those made by the other wheel the points where they merge will not be uniformly located in respect to the said forms. ln other words, the forms made by one wheel will lag around the circle in respect to the 'forms made by the other wheel. rlherei'ore an irregular zig-zag pattern will be formed leaving tails at certain points and other irregularities, and the irregularities will be accentuated because ot the distortion ot the fabric due to the 'fact that it made up of alternating portions oi" plain rib or tuck stitches.

rlhe 'tabl-ic has been made the subject of a divisional application iiled April 29, 1922, Serial No. 557,492.

l claim y 1, ln combination with 'a cylinder and dial ot a ribknitting machine, needles, yarn ieed means, a wing cam, controlling means connprisingl means ttor throwing said cam into tucking position and causing the tuck work to run spirally about the fabric in one direction and means iior reversing the direction of the tuck work to make it run spirally about the iabric in the opposite direction but with rdifferent spacing between its parts in respect to the spacing between the parts or" the lirst spiralfand means iior alternating plain rib with the tuck Work in each course, substantiallj.'v as described.

2. ln combination in a rib knitting machine.v a dial and cylinder', needles, two yarn ieeds, one oi" which 'includes awing cam means t'or eontroll' #the wing ram to make tuckv changes lag and a second 'means 'for vControlling the wingcain to inake tuck changes advance around the tube of fabric, and connections `or throwing one ot said means into operation and the other out alter ately, with means Vfor alternating plain rib iai-mace knitting in the courses'fwith the tuck work, the second yarn feed being adapted `to produce plain rib, substantially as described.

3. in combination with a rib-knitting machine, a cam for shifting the dial wing cam to either knitting or tucking position, means for operating said cam to cause it to lag in respect tothe starting point of the revolutions of the machine and lmeans for operating said 4cam to cause vit to advance' in its operation in respect to Ythe revolutions of `the machine and connections for vthrowing the said two vmeans into and-out of operation, one going into operation'as the other goes out of operation, the shiftingl actions of the wing cainbeing timed differently by one of said means in respect to the timing by the other means-'anda second feed for knitting, substantially as described.

4. ln combination with a rib knitting machine, a yarn feed, a pair of toothed wheels, to mesh with a rotating part of the machine to be driven thereby, and located at the said feed, means for throwing one wheel in mesh and the other out of mesh with the machine alternately, and connections operated from the wheel in mesh for shifting the wing cam of the dial from knitting to tucking posi- 'tion and the reverse, one of said wheels having such a number of teeth as will cause the changes in the knitting to lag around the fabric spirally and the other wheel having such a number of teeth as will cause the changes to advance spirally about the fabric in the other direction, substantially as described.

ln combination with a rib knitting Imachine, a yarn feed, a pair of toothed wheels, to mesh with a rotating part of the machine to be driven thereby, and located at the said feed, means for throwing one wheel in mesh and the other out of mesh with the machine alternately, and connections operated from the wheel in mesh for shifting the wing cam of the dial from knitting to tucking position and the reverse, one of said wheels having such as number of teeth as will cause the changes in the knitting to lag around the fabric spirally and the other wheel having such a number of teeth as will cause the changes to advance spirally about the fabric in the other direction, the part of the machine with which said wheels mesh being the stems of the cylinder needles, substantially as described.

G. ln combination with a rib knitting niachine, a yarn feed, a pair of toothed wheels located at said feed to mesh with a rotary part of the machine, a cam with connections for operating the wing cam of the needle dial to tucking position and to knitting` position, said cam being carried by the upper of the two wheels, said wheels being coupled together but to allow shifting movement of each into and out of mesh with the rotary part of the machine. means for shifting one toothed wheel into mesh and the other out of mesh alteri'uitel'y, one of said wheels having such a mnnber of teeth as will cause the changes in the fabric to spirally thereaboiiit and the other having such a number of teeth as will cause the changes in the faln'ic to advance spirally about the fabric, and a second yarn feed, substantially as cescribed.

7. ln combination with a cylinder and dial of a rib knitting machine, needles, yarn feedmeans, a wing cam, ycontrolling means for said wing cam to make alternate portions of plain rib and tuck work in each course with the changes vin a series of courses occurring on'different wales to make the-pattern run in a spiral direction along the fabric, and with the changes in the next series of courses occurring to make the pattern take a different direction, the changes first mentioned being differently spaced apart from the spacing of the changes last mentioned, substantially as described.

8. ln combination in a rib knitting machine, means for shifting the wing cam of the dial with timing means for making the shifting actions occur successively on different wales and a second means for shifting the Wing cam to make the changes in the fabric occur in a different direction in successive courses from the changes first mentioned and with different spacing in respect to the spacing of the changes first mentioned, substantially as described.

9.'n combination in a rib knitting machine, a pair of toothed Wheels having different numbers o-f teeth and driven from the machine, means operated by each of said toothed Wheels for controlling the position of the dial wing cam to tuck or knit and means for shifting the said wheels into and out of engagement with the driving means so that when one wheel is acting as a driver, the other will be idle, substantially as described.

l0. In combination in a rib knitting machine, a pair of toothed wheels to engage the needlestems and having dierent numbers of teeth, each of said wheels being shiftable into and out of engagement with the needle stems, a connection between the two wheels, a cam driven from whichever of the two `wheels is in engagement with the needle stems, mea s for shifting the wheels so that first one and then the other is out of engagement with the needle stems and connections from the cam to the dial wing cam for shifting the same to tucking or knitting position, substantially as described. 4

1l. ln combination in a rib knitting machine, a yarn feed, a pair of toothed wheels, an adjustable cam to produce rib or tuck work, means operated by the wheels alternately for adjusting said cam to produce adjacent bands of alternate tuck and rib fabric, and with the alternations in one band differing in spacing from that of the other band.

l2. In combination in a rib knitting machine, cam means shiftable for tucking o1" making plain rib fabric, a pair of toothed wheels, cam means associated therewith anddering the said wheels effective and ineffec-l tive alternately in relation `to each other,

substantially as described. f

l13. In combination with a cylinder and dial of a rib knitting machine,needles, yarn feedY ing means, cam means shiftable for tucking or knitting plain rib7 controlling means comprising means for shifting'the cam means into tucking position and causing the tuck work to run spirally about the fabric in one direction, and means for reversing the direction of the tuck work to make it run spirally about `the fabric in the opposite direction but with different spacing between the opj posing parts of this second spiraly in respect to the spacing between the opposing parts of the first spiral, the tuck work alternating with plain rib in each course, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature.

HERBERT T. BALLARD. 

